In early February, the EU Commission rolled out new guidelines under the Digital Services Act (DSA), aiming to fortify the 2024 European elections against digital threats such as widespread falsehoods and orchestrated Russian bot campaigns. This strategic move signals a robust commitment to enhancing election integrity, compelling major online platforms to intensify their disinformation countermeasures. The guidelines underscore a historical shift towards greater accountability and transparency among digital platforms while catalysing a deeper collaboration between the EU and technological giants. This initiative will reshape the digital battleground, ensuring a more secure electoral process in the face of unprecedented AI-generated disinformation.

Key Judgement 1. It is highly likely that the implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) will lead to increased accountability and transparency of digital platforms up to the 2024 European elections.

Key Judgement 2. It is likely that the DSA guidelines will foster a closer working relationship between the EU and major technology companies to safeguard the 2024 EU elections from interference.

Key Judgement 3. It is highly likely that these guidelines will provoke a substantial increase in AI-generated misleading content, despite the DSA and other EU legal tools aiming to mitigate disinformation risks.